After a journey for 54 days, It has reached a stage where Chennai will meet Mumbai a dejavu of 2010 finals. Will Chennai make history repeat itself or Mumbai will help themselves to win their first ever IPL trophy.

Big Finals – Rohit Sharma won the important toss and decided to bat in a slow and tricky pitch. Not a ideal start would have wanted as Mumbai were three down with 16 on the board, with skipper being the last victim. Karthik along with Rayudu struck for a moment and made damage control to put Mumbai Indians back on track., Once karthik was dismissed in came Man from Caribbean, Kieron pollard, who owned this format of cricket, played a gem of an innings even though people around him kept walking away from him. He ended the match with two monumental back to back sixes to give Mumbai a good score of 148/9 in a tricky pitch.

Chennai needing less than 150 to win, got off to a dreadful start, losing 3 wickets that of Hussey, Raina & Badrinath with just 3 on the board. It was Karthik & Rayudu who did the damage control form Mumbai from same position, but Vijay & Bravo failed to do and Jadeja followed with a worst shot of his lifetime to get out for a duck. Which made CSK 39/6 in the half way. Chennai was left alone with their skipper to do the job, but even for him it was too big pill to swallow. However he tried as much as he could, which is clearly visible by the fact, Dhoni has scored 63 runs and all the other 10 players put together scored just 62 runs. In the end Mumbai Indians won their first ever IPL trophy and became the champs of IPL 2013/Season 6.

However even before Mumbai could soak in the happiness of lifting the cup, Sachin announced himself saying that he is retiring from the IPL cricket. Expected him to play for one more season, but still Legend has made his call when his team has delivered a the icing in cake for him.

Mumbai Indians won the match 23 runs…

Mumbai Indians are the champions Indian Premier League Season 6…

Awards & Winners of IPL 2011:

Young Player of the Tournament – Sanju Samson of Rajasthan Royals.

Catch of the season – Gurkreet Mann Singh of Kings XI Punjab (for the catch of Ross Taylor)

Longest Six of the tournament – Chris Gayle (119 meters against PWI)

Orange Cap – Michael Hussey (733 runs in 17 IPL innings)

Purple Cap – Dwayne Bravo (32 wickets in 17 innings)

Fair play award – Chennai Super Kings

Most valuable Player – Shane Watson of Rajasthan Royals.

Interesting Stats IPL 6 Day 54:

– This is just the 13th match out of 37 played in Eden gardens won by team batting first.

– Mitchell Johnson now has 16 wickets in powerplay overs highest by any bowler for this season; he was closely followed by Mohit Sharma with 15.

– Rohit Sharma has just scored 12 runs in all the three playoff matches.

– 3/34 is the worst powerplay score for Mumbai for this season.

– This is fourth time a team has lost 6 wickets before scoring 50 runs, CSK have been there twice and both against Mumbai.

– History continues to repeat as table toppers in league stage have never won the tournament, this time CSK loses it after topping the table.

– 4/42 by Bravo is the second most expensive spell in IPL after picking 4 wickets.

– 148 runs target set Mumbai Indians is the lowest for an IPL final which is held in India. Deccan’s set 143 in 2009 but it was in SA.

– This is also the first time Mumbai have defeated Chennai in a knockout situation games.

– Dwayne Bravo became the first bowler to pick 32 wickets in an IPL season, previous best was 28 by Malinga.

– It is an ironical fact none of the Orange cap winner’s have been able to help their team to win the trophy, IPL 1 – Shaun Marsh, IPL 2 – Matthew Hayden, IPL 3 – Sachin, IPL 4 and 5 – Chris Gayle IPL 6 – M Hussey.

– It is also an ironical fact that Chennai have lost all their matches played on a Sunday in this season, and continued the trend even in finals.

Double header on a Tuesday, Not many would want it, Unless they are willing to see the fireworks of Chris Gayle.

First Game, Had one name to be written, Just CHRIS GAYLE… One man literally played against 11 Pune players and won the game hands down. Records kept tumbling as Gayle kept swinging his bat (all those tumbled records are listed below). Ballistic Gayle went on to score 175 runs in 66 balls, which had 13 fours, 17 sixes & 18 dot balls. Other played the second fiddle around him, RCB ended with the highest T20 score 263/5 in 20 overs. PWI played their 20 overs trying to reduce their deficit of defeat, and ended up scoring 133 runs, leaving them just sort of 130 runs from the target. A point to note, Gayle also picked 2 wickets in the only over he bowled.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 130 runs…

Second Game, After having a Power packed, you can’t eclipse the effort of calypso, So it was always a dull game, where people relived the moments of glory of Chris Gayle and in between there was a match between Delhi & Punjab. Delhi batted first, back to square one as they were in the tournament till the last game, lost wickets to poor shots and poor batting efforts to sum Delhi’s score of 120 in good batting track. KXIP started off the chase in a flyer and kept the chase going even though wickets are falling every now & then. But in the end they chased it with 3 full overs to spare.

Kings XI Punjab won the match by 5 wickets with 18 balls to spare…

Interesting Stats IPL 6 Day 21:

– Records tumbled as Man from Caribbean took a big page on the record book, Read what all he has rewritten in the books of record.

· Fastest Individual Fifty in IPL scored in 17 balls.

· Fastest Individual Century scored in a T20 international scored in 30 balls, bettering 34 balls century of Andrew Symonds and for IPL it is 37 ball century by Yusuf pathan.

· Longest Six scored which went 119 meters bettering 112 meters also by Gayle.

Weekend and you get a double header… Yes, when everyone looking over 150’s & 160’s, Just as Ravi Shastri says in air, Just what the doctor ordered for the day is score of 120’s it is…

KKR took on CSK who was looking well set, Gambhir won the coin and decided to Bat first, started off well infact as they brought a surprise element of Yusuf Pathan opening with Gambhir, not a bad ploy as they got to a partnership of 46 runs, before young Hussey halted the process with a stunner in third man. Followed some sign of madness from KKR and sheer brilliance in fielding from CSK to struck a killer blow in KKR to end up with 119/9 in 20 overs. Where they were 46/1 in 5.5 overs, 73 runs from 85 balls later bowled. Just as KKR surprised, CSK surprised with a new opener Ravi Ashwin in front, Innovation is fine, but Batting innovation from CSK mates were not quite enough to pull the game easily from KKR. Not to leave KKR also bowled well and picked important wickets at right time. As always no worries as SIR RJ is in the team, as he finished the game with a well composed innings of 36 from 14 balls. He also with ball picked 3 wickets and had two catches while fielding. Can u just take him out of the game…?

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 4 wickets with 5 balls to spare…

Another game, Homecoming for Rajasthan Skipper Dravid still he would liked a win for his team, But Rajasthan were simply outplayed in all department, except for some part where Binny & Dravid played some good innings between them, Royals had nothing to cheer about as they ended just one run lesser than KKR scored in the first game. 118/9 in 20 overs. Easy Chase for a team with the like’s of Gayle,Kohli & ABD, Lost two of those mentioned names cheaply but Man in front lead with a sensible knock to go past the winning line. Vinay Kumar picked 3 important wickets to pick the MOM award.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 7 wickets with 13 balls to spare…

Gaylestrom again struck in Bangalore Chinnasamy stadium as RCB trounced KKR in their home ground. KKR rode on their Skipper’s half century and some added support from Yusuf & Tiwary made sure KKR scored 154/8 in 20 overs. Second half almost a one man show as always Gayle found almost every nook and corner of the ground to send the ball. 85 from 50 balls made sure Bangalore crossed the line with enough time.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 8 Wickets with 15 balls to spare…

Rajasthan Royals got off to a decent start thanks to ever dependable Wall, who yet again scored a 50. But not much support from other end and wickets at wrong time made sure they made just 145/5 in 20 overs. If its Gayle for RCB, then replica is called Aaron Finch who turned topsy turvy PWI opening slot to power slot. Well aided by Uthappa & Yuvi to finish the game and put an end to their 11 match losing streak.

Pune Warriors India won the match by 7 Wickets with 8 balls to spare…

Interesting Stats IPL 6 Day 9:

– When Kallis went past 12 runs in the game today, he has accumulated 2000 runs in his IPL Career and also he is the first overseas player to do so.

– Kallis bowled the third maiden of this season.

– 17th IPL Fifty for Gayle now he is a joint topper with Gautam gambhir for most fifties in IPL Career.

– Gayle’s last six went for 106 meters, which is also the longest for this season bettering Thisara Perara’s 101 meters.

– 2nd and 3rd No balls are bowled by Henriques & Bhuvaneshwar Kumar respectively and follow up free hits were gracefully despatched to boundaries by Gayle & Dravid.

– Kushal Perara became the second person and third time in IPL to be out in the very first ball of the match.

– 4th No Ball came from Sreesanth and Free hit was sent into crowd by Robin Uthappa.

– Both Gayle & Kohli now involved in ten 50+ partnership, which beats the toppers from CSK who has done it 9 times Hussey & Vijay.

– 64 runs scored by PWI in Powerplay overs is the highest for this season for any team.

– 1/41 by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is the most expensive spell for him IPL Career.

– 43 ball fifty from Rahul Dravid was the second slowest in IPL career, 44 balls against KXIP in opening season was the slowest.

– This is the first win for PWI against Rajasthan Royals in their IPL Career.

Finally after 6 weeks of league stages, Its time for one final stretch in IPL to decide the Winner of Season 5…

Play offs – 1:

Delhi Daredevils Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Having a fabulous season Delhi will look themselves as favourites to reach their first finals, It would not be easy against the team which looked technically sound than any other team this season.

Gambhir won the toss and decided to Bat first in a spin assisting track, Gambhir & McCullum provided the decent start within the 6 overs, as they were 48 runs losing the skipper to a poor running. Wicket was turning square even in the 7th over and KKR batsmen both Kallis & McCullum found it difficult to rotate the strike in the spinners over. But the best think for KKR is that, Pawan Negi is the only spinner Delhi had in the playing XI, which meant they can easily go after other bowlers. Wickets fell in quick successions then but Yusuf Pathan who had known very little this tournament provided his meat and scored vital 40 runs of 21 balls and well supported by Laxmi Shukla for his 24 runs. KKR scored 56 runs in last 4 overs which seems to have turned the game in the favour of KKR, with 3 spinners in disposal for Gambhir.

Play offs – 1 Scorecard:

KKR 162/4 in 20 overs.

Y.Pathan 40* G.Gambhir 32

I.Pathan 1/20 P.Negi 1/18

DD 144/8 in 20 overs.

M.Jayawardene 40 N.Ojha 28

J.Kallis 2/24 S.Narine 2/24

KKR WON THE MATCH BY 19 RUNS…

As expected DD started with a blast from Shewag & Warner. Just before Warner got a harsh decision for caught behind and the very next ball Shewag has to make a long walk back as this time batsmen has definitely edged the ball. Naman Ojha & Jayawardene continued playing some beautiful shots round the ground before Ojha going for a ambitious cut shot and failing to go over the fielder meant he has to go for 28 well made runs. Jayawardene was the only hope for DD as he tried his level best and finally stumped in his 40. Ross Taylor was held till 5th down, which seems to be a big blunder by DD, it was all over when Taylor walked in. In the end DD has to take their second chance to be in their first ever finals.

Last day of League games, tiresome cricket over 6 weeks or so and it all boils down to last two matches of the season, One being very important for 2 teams mainly and other inconsequential game at the end of the day.

Match 71:

Deccan Chargers Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

A Must win game for Bangalore, They have to win this game to enter playoff’s and on the process they will knock CSK out of the league for the first time even without making off to the playoff’s. On the other side, Deccan’s have a chance to better themselves and place themselves at eighth spot rather than being the wooden spooners.

Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to Field first, as he called RCB made early inroads by removing inform opener Dhawan for just 5, and followed Aksath Reddy & Cameron White with troubling much of the score, as DC were 20/3 in 4 overs. Sanga along with Duminy tried to restore the middle order with some slow paced innings as DC crossed 50 runs in 11 overs. Duminy played an important hand in the process and gave DC a modest total to defend. Chargers finished with 132/7 in 20 overs.

The way RCB fans look at this score is, it’s just 4 more runs higher than Gayle would score (he scored 128* in 62 balls last match). As always Gayle started off in blistering fashion as he plundered 24 runs in the second over of the match, it almost looked match will be over by the first strategic time, if Gayle can continue his assault. But it wasn’t the case as Steyn this time ruffled Gayle and picked up with a well directed bouncer to inside edge into stumps, 6 balls later he picked up the fellow opener Dilshan to a very straight delivery who swung hard and missed right infront of the stumps. Mishra picked a couple more wickets esp the one of De villers to put pressure back on RCB. At this moment 57/4 in 10 overs. Kohli & Tiwary played from then sensibly found boundaries when ever needed, until Kohli had a mind freeze who slogged to Long off and get caught right after hitting a six. Tiwary tried his level best, but failed to with hold the pressure surmounting. As RCB failed to reach the target by 9 runs, which eventually turned out to be the killer knock for them. This win also means that Deccan will not finish at the bottom of the table as they will go past Pune and hold eighth position now.

RCB out of the tournament which means CSK is into Playoff’s, having to see three matches to go their way and now they are into Playoff’s. Certainly Dhoni is a lucky fellow. Chennai will owe a lot to Deccan’s they have won two games out of no where. Thanks has to be presented to Amit Mishra & I can’t miss the person who breathe fire in bowling Dale Steyn. Only these gentlemen made this happen.

Deccan Chargers won the game by 9 Runs…

Match 72:

Rajasthan Royals Vs Mumbai Indians

Not much of a hype around this game, as its not going to make any difference for anyone. Though Mumbai want to win the game and keep the momentum going their way, Royals will like to finish one more to feature in the W column of the table.

Dravid won the toss and decided to Bat first, Not a great start though as both openers walked when score was 31 in 5 overs. Binny & Watson played sensible cricket, but both had to depart when they tried to up the runrate. Shah & Menaria played few important shot and finally Rajasthan finished with 162 runs on the board.

Mumbai know they have to win this one strongly to take the confidence into Playoff’s. As it said Sachin & Smith started doing it in style but with some luck added to it. None of the edges carried to the fielder always falling on the no man’s land. Even if one carried where Watson dropped it, That was the kind of day Royals had in field, their bowling looked very much clumsy, fielding was more shabbier than ever. Trivedi had picked up the wicket of Smith just after he crossed his fifty but to his agony it was a no ball. Nothing stopped them as they sped past the winning runs with 12 balls to spare.

Mumbai Indians won the match by 10 wickets with 12 balls to spare…

Final League Standings of IPL season 5:

Four Teams (Metros) who will play out for the cup is Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians & Chennai Super Kings…

Interesting facts as on Day 46:

– Dwayne Smith scored his Maiden fifty in his IPL career.

– Dhwan Kulkarni bowled the 27th Maiden of this season.

– Mumbai have utilised eight opening pairs for this season, highest ever by any team, on the contrary Rajasthan Royals used only one opening pair (Dravid & Rahane throughout the tournament)

– This is the first 10 wicket victory for this season of IPL.

– 163 runs between Sachin Tendulkar & Dwayne Smith for the first wicket is the highest ever in IPL history, bettering 159 runs between Michael Hussey & Murali Vijay against RCB in last edition.

– This is the first time out of 18 occasions Rajasthan have failed to defend a target of 160+.

– Deccan Chargers won their third game in their home ground in Hyderabad. Out of three victories two have come against RCB and one was against Rajasthan Royals.

– Sachin Tendulkar scored his second IPL fifty of this season, first was against CSK, where again both these men Dwayne Smith & Sachin stole the victory from the jaws of defeat.

Important game again in this context, A win for Mumbai will almost seal the place in top four, RCB needed to jump up in the table, which will add more pressure to the mid table crisis, but RCB will like to join the chores.

Vettori dropped himself again, Stand in skipper Kohli won the toss and decided to field first. As expected by Kohli ball was doing much more than expected and Mumbai was exploited very nice by RCB bowlers in early as Mumbai were 5/2 in 4 overs time. Dinesh Karthik & Sachin had to mend a lot to bring back Mumbai into the context of the game, once Sachin departed when trying to accelerate. Rayudu & Karthik got things good enough for a late launch, but it wasn’t the case as both were dismissed in the space of 2 overs. How ever Skipper Harbhajan & Pollard grinned few hits over and to fence to help Mumbai to 141/6 in 20 overs.

Just like Mumbai RCB was quite scratchy at the beginning and even Gayle offered a early chance to Dwanye Smith who dropped a swirler (only drop of the day too). Ojha stroke with a wicket as Dilshan adjusted LBW when score is at 48 in 9 overs time. Run Rate was creeping slowly, but however Gayle was too confident in getting the runs and he showed his intention in the third over bowled by Ojha as he sky rocked last three balls of the over to sixes and accumulating 22 runs in that over which almost turned game on his heads. From then on it was sail through kind of chase in a silent waters not even rubble’s to trouble. Gayle finished with 82* followed by Kohli with 36*.

RCB won the match by 9 wickets with 12 balls to spare…

Standings as on DAY 35:

Interesting facts as on Day 35:

– 5/2 by Mumbai is the lowest scored by any team in 4 overs in IPL History.

– Chris Gayle (515) took the Orange cap from Virender Shewag (468), not sure though he can continue to keep it to wear in the next game, as the both Delhi & Rajasthan have a game to play tomorrow.

– Chris Gayle became the first batsman of this season to go past 500 runs.

– Chris Gayle also won the 10th Man of the Match award.

– Chris Gayle with 37 sixes to his name is the only batsmen to have more sixes than fours, as he has scored only 33 boundaries till now in season 5.

– Gayle also scored the 6th IPL fifty for this season, highest of this season, followed by 5 each from Shewag & Gambhir.

– Chris Gayle first innings of this season to end being Not out.

– Chris Gayle also scored the 500th Six of this season.

– A victory by 9 wickets is of the first for this season to get registered almost after 53 matches. RCB will be the proud owners to have won the match with highest no. of wickets remaining.

– Rohit Sharma registered the second duck for this season; list was headed Manish Pandey & Harbhajan with 3 to their names.

Having won the last game against Chennai in Chennai, KXIP will be much confident than RCB who had a washed out game.

David Hussey won the toss and decided to field first, RCB lost Mayank Agarwal early, but Kohli & Gayle came together to gel in a good partnership for RCB which longed for 119 runs for the second wicket, just when both looked set and ready to launch the assault, both had been dismissed. Also some very good death bowling from KXIP ensured RCB fell two runs short of 160 mark. Azhar Mahmood being the key player in which KXIP allowed only 30 runs in last 5 overs.

KXIP needed 8 runs an over to chase the target, in form player Shaun Marsh went for a expansive drive which exposed the bat pad gap, for McDonald to seize the opportunity, he went for 8. Mandeep Singh & Saini got together for a small time got a fifty partnership in no time after Mandeep Hussey joined Saini for another 50 runs partnership, which almost took KXIP to the door of victory. But all of a sudden some frenetic running between wickets costed KXIP 3 wickets in 8 balls to get the equation to 5 runs of last 6 balls, with 2 new batsmen in the crease. How ever Chawla ensure he is no muck with the bat, who slammed the length ball into the crowd in the penultimate ball to seal the victory for KXIP.

KXIP won the match by 4 wickets with 1 ball to spare…

Standings as on DAY 28:

Interesting facts as on Day 28:

– Praveen Kumar bowled the most economical spell for this season, 4-0-8-0, he had 16 dot deliveries in the 24 balls he bowled and rest 8 balls had singles written on it.

– Praveen Kumar also bettered Dale Steyn for the best economical bowling for this season, which had the figures of 4-0-10-2.

– Chris Gayle went past the longest six of the tournament with 111 meters bettering his own 106 meters; Abhishek Nayar was in the bowling end this time.

– Chris Gayle scored the 400th Six of this season.

– Chris Gayle became the third player of this season to go past 400 run mark; he is now with 407 runs.

– 4 wickets victory has happened second time in this season which happed previously for Mumbai Indians against KXIP, ironically both team won the match on the penultimate ball, leaving 1 ball to spare.

Match 73: Play off – 2:

Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Mumbai Indians

After losing the first chance to be in the finals, New format gave RCB a one more shot at the cherry to be in the finals, after Mumbai winning over the KKR, they are set to face RCB to be in Finals against Chennai Super Kings.

Sachin won the toss and wanted to field first, on a pitch which looked to favour more for batsmen than the bowlers. Seemed a bad choice and one man who decimated throughout the tournament and a nemesis for bowlers CHRIS GAYLE, turned hot once again. GAYLESTROM struck the Chepauk and Mumbai, Hopeless Mumbai dropped the chances came their way to add salt in wound. Gayle and Agarwal went on to add 113 runs for the first wicket in just 10.4 overs and finally Mumbai Indians held a catch to send Agarwal on the way back on 41 runs. Gayle smashed few more volley’s before getting out to 89 runs. RCB failed to accelerate once Gayle was dismissed, as they scored just 37 runs in 32 balls, which gave Mumbai a slight hope to come and chase 185 runs scored by RCB.

Sachin came out in the field with a job in his hands to do, along with Blizzard, But Blizzard failed to give the start which he gave in the last game as MI lost their first wicket for just 23 runs on the board, Promoted Harbhajan formula didn’t work on this day as he too went for 13 runs, and after sometime its Skipper Tendulkar who was also forced to depart just before the 8th over. From then on RCB started rocking the boat and one by one fell down as the time passed on. None seems to threaten RCB at any moment, Finally its RCB all the way as MI finished their IPL 2011 with 142/8 in 20 overs. RCB winning the match by 43 runs…

ITS NOW TOTAL SOUTH INDIAN DHAMAKA IN CHENNAI AS BANGALORE WILL TAKE ON CHENNAI…

Match 73 Scorecard:

RCB 185/4 in 20 overs.

Chris Gayle 89 M.Agarwal 41

M.Patel 2/27 K.Pollard 1/24

MI 142/8 in 20 overs.

S.Tendulkar 40 R.Sathish 18

D.Vettori 3/19 Syed Mohammed 2/25

RCB WON THE MATCH BY 43 RUNS…

Interesting facts as on DAY 49:

– Chris Gayle became the first player in any tournament to win 6 Man of the Match awards.

– RCB qualify for the finals for the second time in the IPL.

– Its second time in IPL, that South Indian teams will battle out for the title, previous time was in 2009, as Deccan’s faced Bangalore.

– Any one south team has been a part in the all the four finals of IPL so far, three times its extreme end of south, Men in Yellow.

– Chris Gayle scored his 3rd Fifty of this tournament, along with his 2 big Hundreds.

Match 63, To summarize in one word – Adam Gilchrist. That’s all i got to say as one man decimated a team which won 7 games in a row. After winning the toss Gilly decided to bat first, after 6 overs, KXIP were 30 odd runs after losing Valthaty. this is the time one of the world’s most destructive batsmen found his best form. Gilchrist blazed away the RCB bowlers all over the Dharmasala stadium, on one occasion he went for the mountain which went 122 meters long. Shaun Marsh also joined the party along with Gilly as both played some kind of PS2 cricket as they smashed ball after ball. Gilly finally scored his 2nd IPL century, and Marsh was not out for 79. KXIP ended with the tournament’s best score of 232/2. One of the best start needed for RCB if they have extend their winning streak, but it did happen opposite as Gayle played a maiden before getting out for a duck. From then on few played shots then and there but nothing seems to match the run rate as it was always in the Dharmasala mountains. Far away to the reach for any team. Finally KXIP bowled out RCB for the first time in this season and winning the match by 111 runs.

– Gilchrist is also the 13th player to score 2 centuries in the T20 Internationals.

– 111 runs victory is the second highest margin in the IPL history as the KKR still tops with 140 run victory margin vs Bangalore in the first season, and for this season this is the highest bettering 85 runs margin by RCB themselves against KXIP.